Rome/Civitavecchia - The Seadream Begins

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It was a little tough getting up today because neither of us slept well less night due to the heat and then to the crowing birds that seemed to be perched outside our window. However, since I love to run in foreign places, I drug myself up at about 8:00 and headed out the door with my map and running shoes. As I mentioned, the hotel is really well located and I was able to run straight down the Via Del Corso to Piazza Venezia, probably our favorite of the monuments in all the Piazza's in Rome. It is only a couple of hundred years old (young for Rome), but it is really magnificint. From there it was only a few blocks to the Coloseum right past fantastic ruins of the Forum. I took a lap around the Coloseum and headed past some more ruins to the Circus Maximus and actually ran where they used to hold chariot races 2,000 years ago. It was really fantastic and I was able to bring back some memories from our wonderful trip to Italy a few years ago where we spent a great deal of time seeing these incredible historic sites.

Kelly was ready to go when I returned and we headed out for a quick tour of a small street market per Suzy Gershman's direction and then on to breakfast.

We had a great ride out of Rome with fun Italian driver who took us by the ruins and landmarks one more time so Kelly could check them off her list as well.

We were in Civitavecchia by 1:00 which was about 1 hour too early to board, but we got our first taste of small cruise flexibility and they let us on to relax around the pool, brought us ice water to drink and cool wash clothes for comfort. When 2:00 did come, it took all of 5 minutes to go through a process that literally took us hours on our last cruise.

The ship is beautiful and really looks like a miniture of the big cruise ships. Everything is smaller (except the rooms, which are larger), but a bit more luxurious. There are 108 passengers (which is full) and we are among the youngest of the group. 35% of the people have been on this ship before and many take multiple cruise per year. I would even call a good percentage of them "cruise junkies".

People are generally pretty friendly although our age and the fact that we don't know anyone else make it a little tough. We sat with some really nice people for dinner and had a great meal. We're really looking forward to tomorrow in Sorrento.

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Photos

Breakfast in Rome
Here is view of Kelly eating breakfast in the Piazza Por Lucina. Italy is just full of beautiful and interesting places to eat and people watch. Our favorite is trying to discern who is Italian and who is a tourist. It's generally pretty easy, the Italians are beautiful and dressed with a European look and the tourists are, well, touristy.

A Shot of One End of our Stateroom
Our room is great. You can see our the sitting room part here with the flat screen TV, DVD, CD player and internet hookup. The best part is that the mini-bar is free! (or should I say included in the not so free all in price)

Our Stewardess, Jinga
Here is another look at our room and if you look closely, you will see Jinga, our Phillipine stewardess. She is so nice and does a great job. 40 or the 90 crew members are Phillipine and the other 50 represent 22 other nations.

The View out our Window
I've cheated a little here and given you a view of Sorrento from the next day, but it fit in well with the stateroom pictures and I didn't have many photos from today.

Comments

[anonymous]

dad....
ur so funny... youre such a nerd! im glad your enjoying your travel blog... sigh.. hahaha u make me laugh. its good to see the updates tho...is there apicture of your chandelier in here? - ur duaghter

[anonymous]

YO BRO
We know what your talking about, this is a picture of Dyan and I at Rib Fest trying to pick out the people from West County from the city folks. Then we took this boat at Forest Park out for as long as I could paddle. That's me with my shirt off, and hat on backwards, smoking a cigar. I heard your bank caught on fire, but I think almost everyone got out OK, don't worry about it. ( See Picture) Have fun, don't make fun of the old people they may be someone's older brother. - Dan

[anonymous]

Wish I were there
Looks like a blast . Think of me when you are shopping and see purses. love MJ - Mary Jo

[anonymous]

Risky Business
All is well at 1601 and 1605. We managed to placate the police and assure them the $$$ Daniel et al were making on their "enterprises" at 1601 would be duly reported to the IRS! The traffic in the cul de sac was a bit crowded though. The police wanted to know where that little green man belonged. Re: the hardwood floors you can't even seen the dents from dropped bottles unless the sun hits just right:-) Know you are having a good time and your vacation is a great vacation for your kids too :-) I'm sure Kelly was instantly able to figure out the currency exchange. Isn't there a limit on how much she can bring back duty free???? Greenspan is perplexed about the US economy tanking while the Italian economy booms!! I'm keeping the BMW running well for you so the battery won't die. HAVE FUN AND DON'T WORRY. - Jinnie

[cgkim]

Where's Waldo?

[anonymous]

hhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!